


A Thousand Smiles

by estriel



Series: A Thousand Shades of Love [1]
Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Boys In Love, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Romance, Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-10-21 01:55:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20685578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/estriel/pseuds/estriel
Summary: Javi has a thousand smiles saved up for Yuzu, now that he is back at TCC. And maybe more than smiles, too.





	A Thousand Smiles

Javi finds a smile for everyone – from the receptionist, over the ever-present skating moms, to the kid skaters who ask to take a picture with him, he indulges them all.

And Yuzu…. Javi has a thousand smiles saved up for him, after all these months they have spent apart.

He smiles when he arrives in the morning, sipping on his coffee, only to find Yuzu already running through his steps, just like the old days.

He smiles when he pulls Yuzu up from a fall – the quad axel the most magnificent thing Javi has seen in his entire life, despite the 50:50 chance of it ending like this, with Yuzu going down on the landing.

He smiles when Yuzu pokes at his abs and teases him: “Show me six pack, Javi, or have you been lazy?”

He catches Yuzu’s wrist then, splays Yuzu’s fingers against his stomach, his palm covering the back of Yuzu’s hand.

“Good enough?” he asks, quirks an eyebrow.

Yuzu’s giggles get caught in his throat, and his eyes snap to Javi’s, mirth morphing into something different. Suddenly, Javi’s mouth goes dry. Suddenly, he is too aware of the heat of Yuzu’s palm through his thin t-shirt.

He smiles, laughs awkwardly, and lets go of Yuzu’s hand. It takes Yuzu a second too long to move, and when he does, his fingertips trail a blazing path across Javi’s stomach as he skates away. The look he gives Javi over his shoulder is half puzzlement, half… something that Javi is not sure he’s ready to acknowledge.

The smiles are still there, the following days, and the laughter… A little helpless as he barely drags himself off the ice at the end of each day, with Yuzu making good-natured jokes about his not keeping up. A little reckless as he agrees to a quad battle one day, only to end up flat on his back, starfished on the ice, exhausted and so,  _ so _ happy.

The smiles are still there, but there is also something else simmering just underneath. Him and Yuzu… their interactions feel a little more complex now, and Javi catches Yuzu watching him from under his bangs at least as many times as Yuzu catches him in turn.

“Do you want to go to park?” It is an innocent enough question, accompanied by a smile that makes Yuzu’s eyes glow beautifully. But from Yuzu – Yuzu, who rarely goes out, much less in company – from Yuzu, it feels significant.

It hangs there between them for a second, the tension heavy in the air, before Javi returns the smile. “Yes. Will you buy me coffee?”  _ _

He means it as a joke, but Yuzu does, and as Javi sniffs at the fragrant brew in his paper cup, he realizes that this is not what they usually serve you when you ask for coffee in Toronto. This is the double espresso with just a dash of milk, just the way Javi likes it. Yuzu doesn’t know anything about coffee, he still scrunches up his nose at it, clinging to his tea-drinker ways… But he clearly knows how Javi takes his. The realization warms Javi more than the hot liquid in his cup. He smiles into his light scarf as they walk through the park, the trees already turning golden around them, the air crisp with autumn.

They talk, and Javi cannot help the constant upward tug of his lips, because this is what has been missing all these years they could not really speak openly, guarding their secrets, plans and strategies from one another while they were rivals. This is what has been missing and now that Yuzu talks to him – about sal the traitor, about his disbelief over the scores at Autumn Classic, about how  _ cool _ a quint feels even in the harness… now that Yuzu talks to him, glowing and glowering, a kaleidoscope of emotions making his face come alive, Javi cannot help but fall in love a little.

Well, not  _ fall _ , exactly, because that has happened years ago, Javi is now brave enough to admit. More like  _ acknowledge  _ the fact that that is what this is, the sweet warmth in his stomach, the nervous tingling in his fingers every time their hands accidentally brush during their walk.

And not a  _ a little _ , either, because if Javi’s being honest, Yuzu has been the one constant in his heart for… for years, really, even through his attempts at other relationships.

And suddenly, Javi just can’t take it anymore: this tentative, smiling, teasing tension between them, so palpable it makes them both choke up at times. Like when they glance at each other across a locker room, and blush, caught drinking in every inch of bare skin on display. Like when they share smiles from across a table in the cafeteria, Yuzu catching himself at the last moment, pulling back the hand that had almost, almost reached out for Javi’s. Like the paper-thin pretense that they are not on a date right now.

The next time their hands accidentally brush, Javi takes a deep breath and reaches for Yuzu’s hand,  _ intentionally _ . Out of the corner of his eye, he sees the smile that blooms on Yuzu’s face, warmer than the last rays of the afternoon sun.

Then Yuzu stops, and turns to face him, ignoring the duck pond they have just arrived at, even though that had been the destination they had had in mind. There is a kid throwing seeds to the last few birds lingering around before the winter, but that is all Javi registers. All he sees is Yuzu, with his bright eyes, and his flushed cheeks, and the nervous lip-biting that has been driving Javi crazy for years.

“Kiss me? _ ”  _ Yuzu asks, a tiny smile on his face. He asks it like it’s easy… and suddenly, Javi realizes that it is, it really is, just stepping forward, closer, and sliding his palm through Yuzu’s hair, to its familiar spot on Yuzu’s nape.

Javi licks his lips in anticipation, his stomach full of floating soap bubbles. “Yes”, he says. “Yes.”

Yuzu’s nose is cold. That is the first thing Javi notices. His fingers are next, also cold as they brush Javi’s cheek. Then Yuzu fits his mouth against his and suddenly, the heat of Yuzu’s lips erases every other thought, every other sensation from Javi’s mind.

Javi closes his eyes, pulls Yuzu even closer, and feels him smile into the kiss, his lips curling under Javi’s.

A thousand smiles, they have shared this past week. And as Yuzu’s lips fall open under his, inviting him in, Javi knows that he has a thousand more in store for Yuzu. A million, or three, or ten. For Yuzu, Javi has enough smiles to last a lifetime. 

  
  



End file.
